Carles Puyol renews until 2016

Barcelona FC's defender and captain, Carles Puyol, has, at the club's offices this Tuesday afternoon, signed his new contract connecting him to the Barcelona-based outfit until 30th June 2016. The announcement of his renewal came in mid December along with that of Xavi Hernández and Leo Messi.

When the new agreement ends, Puyol will be 38 and will never have worn any shirt other than that of FC Barcelona throughout the whole of his career.

However, Puyol himself has said that, if his body is up to it, he has no intention of retiring while he still feels he is useful to the team and could follow in the hallowed footsteps of AC Milan's legendary centre-back, Paolo Maldini.

President, Sandro Rosell, Vice-president, Josep María Bartomeu and Director of Football, Andoni Zubizarreta were with the player at the contract signing.

Puyol made his debut with the 'Azulgrana' first team during the 1999/2000 season, having come up through the ranks, being a watertight starter since then and wearing the captaincy armband since 2004. He has won 3 Champions Leagues, 5 Spanish leagues, 2 Copa del Rey competitions and 2 FIFA Club World Cups, among other titles, and is the player with the second most competitive matches played in Barça history, after his teammate Xavi Hernández.